What’s your opinion on workouts while cutting?
It’s a huge subject. But in a sentence or two, that the type, timing and amount of carbs need to match (or at least be approprite for) the type of workout you’re doing. A marathon runner is going to need more carbs. Someone doing strength training is going to do better on a lower-carb diet. The bottom line is that it depends and needs to be adjusted. Carbs help with recovery. Carbs help reduce cortisol levels. There just aren’t any hard and fast numbers. Carbs need to be raised and lowered depending on the person’s needs and progress. If you feel good and are recovering and making slow and steady progress towards your goals, leave everything the way it is. If you’re depleted and run down, diet and recovery need to be evaluated. Example, I cannot do HIIT on a diet with <60g of carbs or less.
The main reason why my workouts are so long is because of those big 10x3’s. I tend to take longer rests between those sets because I’m just so beat up going near my max every time. However, I’m under the impression that HEAVY lifting is required during cutting, since we need to give the body a reason to keep our muscles. Would you suggest lowering the number of sets of those 10x3’s?
I didn’t read the second quote until after I typed my reply. There’s nothing wrong with pushing your limits for a short period of time, but at a certain point, adjustments are in order. My question to you is, how many grams of starchy carbs are you taking in, in your whole-food PWO meal? Also, even though I tell people they’re allowed unlimited amounts of fibrous green veggie carbs and put limits on beans and fruit, the beans and fruit are requirements in the plans I design for people. Fruit is going to keep liver glycogen topped off. Beans with their high-fiber content are going to help with a sustained, time-released type of energy. Neither beans nor fruit consumed in the quantities I recommend will spike insulin.
But you’re really onto something, jthsiao, asking these questions. It’s very intuitive of you. I wish more people listened to their bodies.
I understand not going lower than your recommendations for protein and fat, but what I don’t understand is not going over.
Because I want the calories for carbohydrates. It would be like taking a multi-vitamin and saying, but why can’t I take more magnesium if I want to. I’d come back and say, well the vitamins are hard to swallow as it is, they’re so big. We either have to reduce something else or make the pills bigger.
Carbohydrates provide us with flavor and variety in the food we eat, but more importantly, they provide us with health-promoting vitamins and minerals and phytonutrients that are health promoting. Remember my core values of health first and variety, variety, variety? (grin)
Besides, even though I might have carbs coming in higher than you would like, I’ve got a pretty tight handle on the type, timing and amount. Don’t let that “unlimited fibrous green veggies” fool you. (grin) Different types of carbs do different things.
Fruit (helps refill liver glycogen)
Fibrous green veggies (full of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, fiber)
Starchy carbs (good for refilling muscle glycogen following a workout)
Flavor carbs (puts the “quality” back into “quality of life”) (grin)
By “flavor carbs,” I mean garlic, onions, ginger, peppers (hot or otherwise), mushrooms, salsa, horseradish, mustard, vinegar, soy sauce, lemon juice, etc.
I’ve read anywhere from BW * 1.0 to even as much as BW * 2.0 grams of protein. Why is your recommendation exactly at BW * 1.0, nothing more and nothing less? Is there a drawback with eating too much protein?
Nope, there’s not a drawback to eating too much protein. Every one of us picks a path, jthsiao, and have numbers we like that get us the results we want when designing a diet for ourselves or others. I used to use 1.5g of protein x LBM, but that required that people get their body fat percentage taken. Your body fat percentage might be of academic interest to you if you don’t have a lot of fat to lose, but it can have a very demoralizing effect on those who have higher body fat percentages. The 1g of protein x TBW in conjunction with making fat and carb recommendations and adjustments as needed along the way, gets the results I want for people.
jthsiao, there are many ways to skin a cat and many ways to help someone improve their body composition. Mine (and my choice of numbers) is not the holy grail.
Low-carb diets can be very effective in helping people to lose weight, but don’t make carbs the bad guy. And the reason I say that (going back to the vitamin pill analogy) is that any time you increase one of your macronutrients, you have to lower another. It’s definitely a jigsaw puzzle, jthsiao. Everything fits together and is a part of a larger picture.
Regarding fats, I also understand a minimum amount one should have in their diet. However, why fix it at BW * 0.4? Why not more, a la the Anabolic Diet? Is there a drawback with eating too much fat?
Same answer … if you raise one thing (macronutrient), you have to lower another. 0.4g x TBW (with roughly equal amounts of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat) are protective of hormonal balance, brain chemistry (mood), cardiovascular health (like cholesterol and other cardiovascular and metabolic markers). Hormones are made from fat. The phospholipid (lipid = fat) membranes of the cells of our body are a part of the immune/inflammatory response. JB recommends 0.4 to 0.5g, but since I work mostly with people wanting to cut, I like 0.4g better. Even at that, you wouldn’t believe how many people complain about having to eat “ALL THAT FAT!!!”
What do I think of the Anabolic Diet? (grin) It’s a bit too soon to publish my thoughts. I like to look at trends over time. I’m actually playing with (testing) the number of times body weight I need to eat to maintain my weight.
What are your opinions regarding non-workout days? I know that you’ve mentioned in other threads about making two different menus. However, what is your approach to non-workout days? Would you still want to spike insulin at different times of the day? Without a workout to schedule around, is there any reason to have a heavy-carb meal? Would we end up reducing the number of P+C meals and be mainly P+F, somewhat similar to Carb Cycling by Christian Thibaudeau?
I do believe in cycling (“manipulating” is the word I use) carbs and calories. I like to operate at a bit of a caloric deficit during periods of inactivity or lower activity. And then I like to take in a bit of a caloric excess post-workout in the form of starchy carbs. You can cycle carbs in a way where whole days are designated high-, medium- or low-carb … or you can cycle within a 24-hour period. Only if a person is losing weight too quickly and max’d out on fibrous green veggies, fruit, beans and getting all their protein and good fats in, will I recommend that they start consuming measured amounts of starchier carbs.
Oatmeal in the first meal of the day is a concession I’ll reluctantly make, but it’s also the first thing I’ll change if the person isn’t losing weight at an optimal rate.
So repeating, on days that resistance training is not done, I don’t care to spike insulin, no.
I hear you on throwing out the egg yolks. I buy organic eggs, and I hate throwing 'em out, too. So what I do is consume eggs on P+F meals and pick leaner cuts of meat otherwise. That way I don’t go over on fat. Egg whites can be purchased in the grocery store. They should be right next to the cartons of eggs.
Whew! (wiping brow & grinning)
I’ll have to answer your next post after I get something to eat.